Claims two abused boys died in care of Catholic order

Updated
November 09, 2012 13:15:00

The child protection group Broken Rites alleges two boys disappeared in Victoria the 1960s while under the care of a Catholic Order. The St John of God brotherhood operates in 52 countries. Broken Rites is pushing for a full investigation.

BRENDAN TREMBATH: Now to Victoria, where there are also claims of abuse.

The rights group Broken Rites alleges two boys disappeared in Victoria in the 1960s, while under the care of a Catholic order. The St John of God Brotherhood operates in 52 countries.

Broken Rites is pushing for a full investigation.

Alison Caldwell reports.

ALISON CALDWELL: Dr Wayne Chamley is a researcher with the child protection group Broken Rites.

He says in the 1960s two boys died while under the care of the Hospitaller Order of St John of God orphanages at Lilydale and Cheltenham in Melbourne's outer-east.

Dr Chamley says the stories were passed on by survivors.

WAYNE CHAMLEY: One of those was in a bed beside a man that I did a mediation for and that man said that boy had just recently arrived in the orphanage and when he woke up the child was dead. The other one was thrown down a set of staircases.

These children had nobody. It is not that there were no families involved. Family had just put them into this institution and walked away. They never saw any family again.

Nobody knew anything and nobody would have even known that they weren't there if that's what happened. They wouldn't have even known.

ALISON CALDWELL: Dr Chamley alleges a group of 15 religious brothers led by an alpha paedophile are suspected of the unreported deaths and the sexual abuse of more than 40 others.

Dr Chamley told ABC Local Radio he fears the abuse may not be restricted to the past and he's called for a Royal Commission to investigate the claims.

WAYNE CHAMLEY: You need a Commonwealth-initiated Royal Commission into all this. There is too much going on all over the country and it's not in the past. It's still going on, you know. The big problem now is visiting priests who fly in. Nobody knows what their bonafides are.

ALISON CALDWELL: He claims none of the religious brothers were ever charged because of a lack of police resources.

A short time ago Victoria Police released a statement which reads.

EXTRACT FROM STATEMENT BY VICTORIA POLICE: As with any investigation, police would encourage anyone who has concerns regarding a matter they have reported to police to make investigators aware. Police are more than willing to review an investigation, especially where new information comes to hand or where other victims come forward.

ALISON CALDWELL: Meanwhile two members of Victoria Police faced the state's parliamentary inquiry into child abuse this morning.

They weren't asked about the latest allegations but they did admit a number of failings in the way police have handled claims of sexual abuse in recent decades.

Detective Superintendent Rod Jouning is with the Sexual and Family Violence Directorate.

ROD JOUNING: Traditionally the investigation of sexual assault was treated very much like any other crime. This resulted in a very segmented investigative response with little real understandings of the complexities of sexual offending, sexual offenders and most importantly the victims. This has the potential to create a significant tension between the investigator and the victim and often resulted in the victim withdrawing from the process.

Having little understanding of what we now know of criminology often unique to sexual offending created the risk for investigator bias either in that early assessment or during the investigation. The real nature of sexual offending, particularly child sexual offending is in my opinion, one of the most difficult crimes to investigate and successfully prosecute.

ALISON CALDWELL: As of February this year, Victoria Police now has 27 specialist sexual abuse investigations teams around the state, involving over 400 detectives trained to take a so-called "whole story" approach to each case.

Trained in the UK, he has over two decades experience interviewing child abuse victims and perpetrators.

PATRICK TIDMARSH: One man in treatment once said to me when asked about grooming and his approach to grooming, he said the point for me is I want the child to think like me. They will tell you in great detail how they go about their business. This knowledge has been available for 30 years. We've been very slow to take it into our investigations, into our courts and into child protection in the organisations that these men target.

ALISON CALDWELL: And he says the Catholic Church cannot and should not investigate itself.

PATRICK TIDMARSH: We find it hard to believe that any other organisation investigating themselves certainly with consequences for the organisation and the individuals could genuinely listen with an open mind to these kinds of narratives. I find that extraordinarily hard to believe.

There are many, many things that we now know about sex offending that in the systems that we have to investigate them are still not adequately addressed.

And the Federal Government has rejected calls for a Commonwealth Royal Commission, the Workplace Relations Minister Bill Shorten says he's not convinced a Royal Commission would fix the faults.

And St John of God has released a statement, in which it says it became aware in 1997 that there had been sexual abuse in facilities it ran in Victoria. It says the Order was proactive, and immediately opened internal and police inquiries that culminated in a multi-million dollar mediated settlement. The Order also says it supports any inquiry, including the Victorian Parliamentary Inquiry, aimed at bringing justice and healing to victims of sexual abuse.